Colleyville 1099 Prep: Collect W-9s Now, Not in January

Ask every contractor, sub, cleaner, and service provider you paid this year for a signed Form W-9 before Thanksgiving. That’s the whole job, and October is when contractors still answer their phones.

Two things make 1099 filing different for Colleyville businesses this season. The reporting threshold went up, and the deadline lands on the first business day of February with no extra time. Form 1099-NEC is due February 1, 2027 to recipients and the IRS, because January 31 falls on a Sunday.

Nobody wants to text a tile sub on January 20 asking for his Social Security number. Ask now, while the work is recent and he still wants your next job.

The 2026 rule change that decides who gets a 1099

The old $600 rule no longer applies to payments made this year. The IRS now says to report payments totaling $2,000 (for payments made after December 31, 2025) or more during the calendar year, made in the course of a business to a person who’s not an employee, for services on Form 1099-NEC.

Section 70433 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised that threshold to $2,000 (used to be $600, a great change!), and the change applies to payments made after December 31, 2025.

The same $2,000 figure covers rent and other income on Form 1099-MISC. The trigger is $2,000 or more per payee per calendar year. Exactly $2,000 counts, and the test is the yearly total, not a single invoice.

Our recommendation: collect a W-9 from every vendor, including the ones who will clearly stay under $2,000. In October you don’t know who you’ll call back in December for an emergency repair. A vendor file with missing W-9s is what makes January filing take days instead of an afternoon.

Why October is better than January for collecting W-9s

Contractors in Tarrant County move between jobs all over the Metroplex. Phone numbers change, crews split up, and the sub who worked on your project in March may be on a job in Frisco or Fort Worth by January. Seasonal help you hired for the fall is already gone.

Work through this list over the next two weeks:

Pull a vendor report from your bookkeeping file for January 1 through today, sorted by total paid.
Flag anyone at $1,500 or more. They’ll likely pass $2,000 before December 31.
Request a W-9 from every one of them, plus any new vendor you’ve added since summer. Use the current form (revision 03/2024) from IRS.gov. Download it fresh instead of reusing an old PDF.
Check line 3 on each form. The tax classification box tells you whether a 1099 is needed at all.
Save every W-9 in one folder, named with the vendor’s legal name.

Settle one more thing now, not in January. Since tax year 2023, if you have 10 or more information returns, you must file them electronically. You add your information returns and your Forms W-2 together, and if the total is at least 10, they all have to be filed electronically.

The IRS is also moving everything to IRIS, which will be the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027. If you’ve always mailed paper forms, this is the year to get set up.

What this looks like on a real Colleyville vendor list

Say you run a home remodeling company off Colleyville Boulevard. These numbers are an example, but the mix is typical for a Northeast Tarrant County contractor.

*Vendor*	*Paid in 2026*	*What the W-9 says*	*Form for 2026*
Tile setter in Hurst, regular sub	$14,400	Individual / sole proprietor	1099-NEC
Handyman in Keller, 3 punch-list jobs	$1,850	Individual / sole proprietor	None, under $2,000
Framing sub	$38,000	LLC taxed as an S corporation	None
Landlord for your shop space in Grapevine, $2,400 a month	$28,800	Individual	1099-MISC, box 1 (rents)
Attorney for a lien dispute	$3,500	Professional corporation	1099-NEC

Two notes on that table. The reporting requirement usually does not apply to payments to corporations. Law firms are the exception: attorneys’ fees go on Form 1099-NEC and are reportable even when the law firm is a corporation. The only way you know which category a vendor falls in is the W-9.

You didn’t pay the handyman enough to require a form, but you still deduct the $1,850. The threshold decides your paperwork, not your deduction.

If a vendor won’t give you a W-9, you have to withhold 24%

This part surprises business owners. A payer must withhold 24% of reportable payments to a payee and deposit it with the IRS until the reason for backup withholding is fixed. If you don’t receive the payee’s taxpayer ID number, you must start backup withholding. Those amounts are deposited and reported on Form 945.

On a $1,200 payment with no W-9 on file, you’d send the sub $912 and hold back $288. Across three more payments of $1,200 this fall, that’s $864 held back from him.

Telling a vendor this in October usually gets you a signed W-9 within the week. Telling him in February usually starts an argument.

Skipping the form costs money too. For returns due in 2026, the IRS charges $60 per form up to 30 days late, $130 from 31 days late through August 1, $340 after August 1 or if never filed, and $680 for intentional disregard. The IRS adjusts those amounts each year, so the 2027 numbers may be slightly higher. Two forms filed 45 days late at the 2026 rate cost $260.

Don’t plan on an extension. There’s no automatic 30-day extension for Form 1099-NEC. Form 8809 has to be filed by the due date with an approved reason, and it only extends the IRS filing deadline, not your deadline to send Copy B to the contractor.

Texas filing, Metroplex subs, and contractors outside the U.S.

You file 1099s with the IRS only. Texas has no individual income tax, so there is no separate state 1099 filing. It doesn’t matter whether your sub lives in Colleyville, Bedford, or Southlake. The same federal rules apply.

Many Colleyville businesses also pay people who work remotely from other countries, such as a virtual assistant, web designer, or bookkeeper overseas. If you pay a non-U.S. person who does all the work outside the United States, there’s no 1099. Form 1099-NEC reports payments to U.S. persons. For a foreign contractor, collect Form W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E for a company), keep it on file, and file nothing with the IRS for that payment. There’s no Form 1042-S either, because there’s no U.S.-source income, and no withholding applies.

Watch for two exceptions. The rule follows the contractor’s status, not where they live, so a U.S. citizen or green card holder living abroad still gets a 1099 when the total reaches $2,000. And if any of the work is done in the United States, different rules apply, including possible withholding and a Form 1042-S. Ask before you pay, not after.

When you can skip most of this

If every vendor you use is a corporation, your January is quiet. The same is true if you pay everything by business credit card or a payment app, because those payments are reported by the payment processor on Form 1099-K, and you should not report them twice. Check how you actually paid each vendor before you assume, since most small businesses use a mix of card, check, and Zelle.

Buying goods doesn’t count. A load of lumber or tile from a supply yard is merchandise, not nonemployee compensation.

Many Colleyville business owners also hire contractors for their own homes: a pool remodel, landscaping, a kitchen renovation. Payments from your personal account for work on your personal residence do not go on your business 1099s. Keep those payments out of your business books entirely.

One limit to be clear about: a 1099 doesn’t decide whether someone is a contractor or an employee. If you control the hours, the tools, and the method, a 1099 won’t protect you. That’s a separate question, and it costs less to answer it now than after a claim is filed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I still send a 1099 if I paid a cleaner $1,200 in 2026?

No. For 2026 payments the 1099-NEC threshold is $2,000, not $600. Keep the W-9 anyway and keep deducting the expense.

When exactly are 1099s due for 2026 payments?

Form 1099-NEC is due February 1, 2027, to the recipient and the IRS on the same day, whether you file electronically or on paper.

Form 1099-MISC is due to recipients February 1, 2027. The IRS copy is due March 1 on paper or March 31 if you e-file.

Do I file 1099s with the State of Texas?

No. Texas does not have a state individual income tax, so 1099s are not filed with the state. Your filing is federal only.

I paid an overseas virtual assistant $6,000 this year. Does she get a 1099?

Not if she’s a non-U.S. person and does all the work outside the United States. Collect Form W-8BEN and keep it on file as her certification that she isn’t a U.S. person. If she’s a U.S. citizen or does any of the work in the U.S., call us first.

What if I’ve already lost track of who I paid?

That’s a bookkeeping cleanup, and October is a good month for it. We rebuild the vendor list from bank and card activity, then send W-9 requests from a clean list.

Work with Books By Bonnie

We’ll pull your vendor list, tell you who is likely to pass $2,000 before December 31, send the W-9 requests, and have your 1099s ready before February 1. If your books are behind, we’ll fix that first so the vendor totals are correct.

Call Books By Bonnie at 817-809-2819 or send a message through our contact page, and we’ll handle your 1099s for you. You can also read more about us and how we work.

This article reflects federal and Texas rules as of October 2026. Talk to a tax professional about your situation.